March 2018 Trail and Road Conditions

[dbb]

Rode Crystal City Connector and north on the MVT across the 14th St Bridge right at sunup (hybrid with 35 mm, no studs)

A bit of the Crystal City Connector is single track (from the bike counter to the GWMP underpass)

The two northern bridges on the MVT at DCA were crunchy with ice chunks. I Flintstoned.

MVT was almost universally clear, with a small amount of single track and only one patch (maybe 8-10 feet) of glaze ice from refreeze (near Gravelly Point)

14th St Bridge was clear except for about 100 feet on the DC end where I Flintstoned.

DC along the Mall was clear and dry.

With the sun, much of the issues I noted will be short lived.

[hozn]

@n18 176738 wrote:

Uncleared trails are probably icy rutted mess in the morning. In the afternoon, it’s easy. Here in the western part of Vienna it’s 27.9 F now. Unfortunately, I can’t easily get to the W&OD.

The W&OD west of EFC is a mess. A little better near Hunter Mill / Reston where less travelled, but I avoided it as much as I could and the other parts were slow.

[dkel]

@hozn 176743 wrote:

The W&OD west of EFC is a mess. A little better near Hunter Mill / Reston where less travelled, but I avoided it as much as I could and the other parts were slow.

So maybe I should take the streets instead of riding studs. Or do both.

[Sunyata]

In case anyone else rides it other than me:

The Pedestrian Bridge over 395 in Shirlington is a rutted icy mess. It was 100% navigable by foot and 100% not navigable by my commuter that does not have studs.

The bike lanes on Clarendon Blvd were mostly clear, but due to a few icy spots, I took the lane instead.

[hozn]

@dkel 176744 wrote:

So maybe I should take the streets instead of riding studs. Or do both.

I would do both. Yes, at least you have a street option. I took the streets to Vienna then out to Clarks Crossing, but unless I want to ride on Browns Mill my options are then a little limited, so I took the trail.

Tomorrow, I’ll take Lawyers all the way into Reston.

[DrP]

W&OD was plowed in Arlington.
Worst area on trail between Custis turn off and first bridge. All bridges bad but passible if you take the right line (only flintstoned for one bridge). Some patchy areas bad.
4MRT parallel to W&OD was plowed (as far as I could see).
4MRT underpasses (I-395 and Glebe) were fine in the actual underpasses, but some patchy ice that will likely clear soon was on the approaches.

Army-Navy Drive PBL mostly clear eastbound – entrance area can be avoided, but area at top of hill (in shadow of the big wall) was thin snow (like more snow came after they cleared it).

[huskerdont]

Rode in on the Custis around 6:15. Passable with care but the overpasses, especially the Spout Run Skating Rink, are pretty bad. Spout Run eastbound starts out dry and as you gain momentum downhill, suddenly is pure ice. Someone is likely to fall there today.

Took the lane on Key Bridge since yesterday afternoon the sidewalk had not been cleared, and was buzzed as usual. yay.

[LhasaCM]

From this morning’s DC commute: The transition from 8th street onto the MBT at Franklin was a rutted mess. From there, the MBT was mostly clear (at least one lane’s worth) until Florida Avenue; there were a few icy spots in between, and the intersections with the road work yard were mostly blocked, but nothing too treacherous. Once you hit Florida, however, very little had been intentionally cleared. There was some melting, but the bridge over Florida and much of the pass next to the metro station required me to Flintstone it on my 38s due to the icy ruts wanting to grab hold. The ramp down to M Street had a shovel-width path mostly cleared, but watch the switchback.

[FFX_Hinterlands]

Rutted icy messes for the most part out there this AM. Snow melt glare ice all over as well. I went down on my driveway. On foot. Good news is I was wearing my skate-style bike helmet! I still had to pick around icy patches on the local streets.

[Crickey7]

The CCT inside the City line was . . . interesting. It had never been cleared, and what was slush last night refroze into a crunchy mess. Fortunately, stretches had a 4-6 inch semi-cleared path that I threaded with care on deep knobbies. But I managed to make it without so much as a dab, and it’s pretty obvious that by afternoon it will be a totally different story.

[KWL]

@KWL 176726 wrote:

I too would like to know the condition of the Washington Blvd trail.

The Washington Blvd trail was clear this morning. I’m thinking I’ll continue to skip the Trollheim for the rest of this week. It could get to 80°F during the day and that sucker would still be iced up. Any news to the contrary would be welcome.

[dkel]

I rode the W&OD westbound from Shreve Rd in Falls Church to Church St in Vienna between 10:00 and 11:00 this morning. There were stretches that were clear, and most of the way had melted enough that pavement was showing through abundantly. The usual places were still very icy and very rough going. Both of the overpasses were deep in snow and icy underneath. I will be going back that way in an hour or so, but I will likely take streets through Vienna and pick the trail up at Branch Ave or maybe by Navy Federal. If I have time, I’ll post about it again before the evening commute.

[bentbike33]

@dkel 176771 wrote:

I rode the W&OD westbound from Shreve Rd in Falls Church to Church St in Vienna between 10:00 and 11:00 this morning. There were stretches that were clear, and most of the way had melted enough that pavement was showing through abundantly. The usual places were still very icy and very rough going. Both of the overpasses were deep in snow and icy underneath. I will be going back that way in an hour or so, but I will likely take streets through Vienna and pick the trail up at Branch Ave or maybe by Navy Federal. If I have time, I’ll post about it again before the evening commute.

You could try staying on Electric to Cedar, then Cedar to Oak (across Gallows), crossing the beltway to Providence, to Helena, to Idylwood, to Virginia Ave. Then decide where to get back on the W&OD along Virginia.

[dkel]

@bentbike33 176773 wrote:

You could try staying on Electric to Cedar, then Cedar to Oak (across Gallows), crossing the beltway to Providence, to Helena, to Idylwood, to Virginia Ave. Then decide where to get back on the W&OD along Virginia.

Thanks; I have an entire road route that I can use, but I was just going on the trail to see how bad it was!

[excimer34]

I’m glad I rode on studded tires today. MVT was mostly clear except for the bridges. This was at about 9:30 this morning.
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